The American arachnologist Lorenzo Prendini was detained in Istanbul on Monday (13 May), accused of attempting to smuggle dead spiders and scorpions out of the country.
Prendini, a curator at New York’s American Museum of Natural History for more than 20 years, told the Associated Press that he had the necessary research permits from the Turkish government but police at the Istanbul Airport ignored them. Prendini noted that police “relied on the testimony of an ‘expert’ who has a conflict of interest with my collaborators … and whose scientific research is highly questionable”.
After officers searched Prendini’s luggage and found plastic bags filled with 1,500 spider and scorpion samples, they arrested and sent him to make his case before a judge, who released the curator without charge. News of the incident was published to Turkey’s Demiroren News Agency, which posted a video of police pulling bag after bag of arachnids from Prendini’s suitcase.
“The police have completely violated due process, and it appears they would like to find me guilty in the court of public opinion,” Prendini told the AP in response to Turkish media coverage of the incident.
Spokespersons for the American Museum of Natural History did not immediately respond to The Art Newspaper's request for comment.